Thursday, May 6, 2010

Wow, a double dose of Andy Sigle's dulcet tones in less than a week! This episode of Reston Today begins with an aerial video of Lake Anne Plaza for no apparent reason, but hey, it's cool to look at. Learn how to volunteer, how to be safe on Reston's "60 miles of trails," and watch new RA President Kathleen Driscoll McKee hang out in Reston's garden plots. Did you know all four of Reston's garden plots are located directly atop the transcontinental natural gas pipeline? No, but now that we do, we'll resist the urge to light up the next time we're out checking on our rutabagas.

I worry about volunteers and workers digging up "invasive species" contacting Lyme disease from ticks. I was corresponding with one one RA worker about the problem who said that she did in fact have lime disease. Ticks which transfer the disease are thick in Northern Virginia. All the volunteer weeds in China are not worth one person getting Lyme disease! I'm not sure how you really protect people from ticks, They say roll your socks up over trousers but then how do you feel a tick crawling up to your head and if you still have some hair and one makes it up there you'll never find them. And we are not talking about dog ticks but deer ticks that are much much much smaller. Of course spray with bug spray. But how many do that? At least we had a good cold winter which is said to reduce ticks.

I was out battling the Bermuda grass in my garden plot today. It is one tough weed! The Borg of weeds. Any tips on that? One local published expert (Shepard Ogden) ruefully suggested sifting the entire garden through 1/2 mesh.

Still nothing like vine ripened "real" tomatoes if somehow it all works out.